The private aged care operator founded by Bill Summers in 2016 has begun construction on the six-storey, 153-bed aged care home, with the first residents expected to move in early next year.
As well as the Northshore Hamilton project, 8km northeast of the Brisbane city centre, the provider has a development application approved to build a 150-bed aged care home in nearby Kedron, 8km north of the Brisbane CBD. Rockpool Kedron, also a $60 million project, is expected to be complete in mid-2027.
The cost per bed to build the Hamilton Northshore and Kedron homes is around $400,000 – a figure well below the $500,000-plus per bed we often hear quoted, particularly in rural and remote areas. This week, we report on a newly completed Victorian aged care home that has taken costs to a new level, coming in at over $1 million per bed.
The builders for the project are McNab.
Last December, after the passing of the Aged Care Bill 2024, Melissa Argent, the CEO of Rockpool, told The SOURCE, "We can't get homes out of the ground quickly enough", noting they are pursuing aggressive expansion.
Rockpool already operates four aged care homes:
- Rockpool Songbird Oxley (152 beds, opened March 2025)
- Rockpool Pelican Waters (150 beds, opened October 2023)
- Rockpool Carseldine (150 beds, opened August 2022), and
- Rockpool Morayfield (150 beds, opened 2019).
Bill established Ashmore Aged Care in the 1980s and went on to co-found Domain Aged Care in 2002, which became Opal HealthCare, now Australia's largest aged care operator with 138 aged care homes across the country.
